Illuminated translucent signs



May 3, 1955 T. J. D. FULLER, JR

ILLUMINATED TRANsLUcENT sIGNs 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 9, 1952 In wemwy Thames nl.eiw; JW, @y #m4 M. n f Mw' AWS.

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ILLUMINATED TRANSLUCENT SIGNS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 9, 1952 Inven fom Thomas rFwZZenJnp y/MKZ K9/4'; gf; f d A w as.,

United States Patent Office 2,797,346 Patented May 3, 1955 ILLUMINATEDTRANSLUCENT SIGNS Thomas J. D. Fuller, Jr., Cambridge, Mass. ApplicationSeptember 9, 1952, Serial No. 308,639

7 Claims. (Cl. 40--133) This invention relates to illuminatedtranslucent signs and particularly to a sign on which the insignia maybe changed as desired with interchangeable panels.

My invention is particularly adapted to be used for an illuminatedchangeable item, directory board or sign. Heretofore, signs of thisnature have had a cut-up appearance, with the outside surface broken bylines around the changeable panels, or they have had to be made as oneintegral sign, and the individual items could not be replaced. In thelatter sign, to change one item, the entire sign had to be changed, andthis made the changes very costly. However, I have succeeded in devisingan illuminated translucent sign in which individual insignia may bereadily changed as desired, by replacing an individual panel. At thesame time the sign when lighted has the appearance of a one-pieceintegral sign, in that no lines or frames appear between the replaceablepanels bearing the individual items. The result is an illuminated signof attractive appearance, uniformly lighted, and having a front surfaceunbroken and unmarred by lines surrounding the various replaceableitems. My sign thus has the appearance and desirable features of anintegral sign, but individual items of the insignia can be replacedwithout making a new sign.

Distinctive and attractive features of my sign are that the charactersare illuminated, and the background or lield areas are opaque, makingthe characters stand out brilliantly and clearly; groups of charactersare readily, slidingly replaceable; when illuminated the charactersappear to have been stenciled through one plane sheet of opaquebackground material; and when illuminated the face of the sign in whichthe lighted characters appear is devoid of all dividing lines, members,borders, edgeframes, partitions or seams, which would appear to separatethe groups of changeable characters. ln other words,

by my construction the sign has the appearance of being one, integralsign, unbroken by dividing lines between the groups of characters, yetactually individual panels or groups of characters are interchangeable-aresult never heretofore achieved or regarded as possible in previouslyexisting signs.

Briey my invention comprises a front panel of transparent materialhaving an opaque surface thereon with windows provided therein, a backpanel of preferably translucent light diffusing material, spacing stripsspacing the front and back panels and forming guideways or y slidesabove and below the windows provided on the opaque surface, andinsertable strips of transparent material similar to the front panel,each having an opaque surface thereon on which the desired insignia maybe cut, which strips are inserted from an edge of the sign between thespacers and in the windows provided on the opaque surface of the frontpanel. The panels are held in parallel relation and closely together byany suitable means, such as bolts, edge frames, clamps or the like, andare illuminated from a light source located behind the rear panel. It isunderstood of course that the opaque surfaces mentioned and thetranslucent light diffusing surfaces may be separate sheets if desired,without departing from my invention. lt will be understood that a sourceof light such as fluorescent tubes or incandescent lamps are providedfor illuminating the sign.

Before explaining in detail the present invention it is to be understoodthat the invention is not limited in its application to the details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, since the invention is capable of other emobdiments and ofbeing practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to beunderstood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is forthe purpose of description and not of limitation, and it is not intendedto limit the invention beyond the express language of the claims and therequirements of the prior art.

Additional advantages and objects of my device will be apparent in thefollowing specification and accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of my sign;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section on line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 2a is a detailed section of a modified form of my sign used as adouble-faced sign;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of one of the lettered removable slides orstrips; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on line i--4 of Fig. 2 withthe panels separated.

ln the drawings brackets 10 are held by a casing 11 and its hinged back11a, which are made of metal or other suitable material. The casing 11carries supporting studs or bolts 12. Provision is made for a source oflight in the sign such as by uorescent tubes generally indicated at 13(Fig. 2). The front panel 15 is preferably a sheet of rigid transparentmaterial such as glass or methyl methacrylate resin and which ispreferably provided with an opaque surface coating on its back and sidessuch as paint, enamel, or lacquer indicated at 16. As stated above, theopaque surface 16 may be a separate sheet, if desired. Uncovered areasare provided in the opaque surface coating 16, which form windows oropenings 17 through which the inserted insignia described belowis seenand illuminated. A second or rear panel 20 of transparent material, suchas glass or methacrylate resin is also provided, and with it atranslucent light diffusing surface or material 21. As here shown thepanels 20 and 21 are two separate sheets, but it will be understood thata single transparent or translucent light diffusing panel may beprovided, if desired. The translucent light diffusing sheet is of asolid milky appearance or is otherwise treated as by frosting to`diffuse any light rays about the entire surface of the panel 21. Asshown diffuser sheet 21 is a vinyl resin plastic of milky appearance.Intermediate spacer strips 24 are further provided of any suitablematerial to space the front and rear panels 15 and 20, which may beadhesively attached to either or both the frontlpanel 15 or surface 16,or the rear panel group 20 or 21. As shown in the drawings, spacers 24extend horizontally and transversely across the sign and are spaced toframe on two or three sides the translucent areas or windows 17 providedin the opaque surface 16 wherever interchangeable insignia is desired.Horizontal spacers 24 may be further connected and reinforced byvertically extending connections 25 if desired, as shown in Fig.. 4.Slidable strips 26 of transparent material such as glass or plasticsimilar to front panel 15 are further provided to slide and be insertedwithin the guideways formed by a pair of top and bottom horizontalspacers 24. Again the insertable strips 26 are provided with an opaquesurface 27 similar to surface 16, in which the desired insignia may becut as shown in Fig. 3. The opaque surfaces 27 on strips 26 whenilluminated, should of course match in color the corresponding opaquesurface 16 on front panel 15, but due to the loss of light fromreflection, the opaque surface 27 of strips 26 will necessarily be of adifferent shade in color, when not illuminated from that of surface 16on front panel 15 to present the same shade and appearance whenilluminated. The required difference in shade or color is of coursereadily ascertained by experimentation. It will be readily understood,therefore, to change the insignia on the sign it is merely necessary toreplace one of the removable strips 26. The insignia on the slidablestrips 26 is of course seem through the windows or uncoated areas 17provided in the opaque surface 16 behind the front panel 15. For properillumination the windows 17 are necessarily slightly smaller in allplane dimensions than the over-all dimensions of the inserts 26 whichare placed behind the windows, so that when in position, the edges ofthe inserts 26 are concealed behind the opaqued arcas of surface 16, andthere is no leakage of light. defining the edges of the inserts can thusbe seen from the front of my sign, when illuminated. The insert strips26 are inserted within the guideways provided by the spacers 24 from theside edge of the sign and preferably extend out slightly beyond the sideedge of the rear panel 20 to permit their removal and replacement. Itwill bc understood, however, that the insert strips 26 may be insertedin their guideways from the top, if desired, without departing from myinvention.

It will, of course, be readily seen that when the sign is lighted as bymeans of fluorescent tubes generally indicated at 13 (Fig. 2) positionedbehind the rear panel 20 that the light rays passing through theinsignia cut in the opaque surfaces 27 on removable strips 26 and in thepermanent surface 16 of front panel 15, will illuminate the sign.Obviously permanent insignia may also be provided on the opaque surface16, as illustrated by the words Sales Room in Fig. l.

In Fig. 2 my sign is shown with only one sign surface, but in Fig. 2a itis shown adapted for a double faced sign.

It will thus be seen that in this manner I have provided an illuminatedsign in which the insignia may be changed as desired but which has theattractive appearance of a unitary and integral sign.

I claim:

l. An illuminated sign having replaceable items of insignia, comprisinga front panel of transparent material, an opaque sheet behind said panelhaving windows provided therein, a rear panel of translucent lightdiffusing material spaced from said front panel, guides between saidfront and back panels forming supports above and below said windows,insertable strips of transparent material slidable in said guides andhaving an opaque surface on which desired insignia may be cut, and asource of light behind said rear panel.

2. An illuminated sign having replaceable items of insignia, comprisinga front panel of transparent material having an opaque surface withwindows provided therein, a rear panel of translucent light diffusingmaterial spaced from said front panel, guideways between said front andback panels above and below said windows, removable strips oftransparent material and having an opaque surface on which desiredinsignia may be cut, said strips being slidable in said guideways andbehind No streaks of light said windows, and a source of light behindsaid rear panel.

3. An illuminated sign having replaceable items of insignia, comprisinga front panel 0f transparent material having an opaque surface thereonwith windows provided in Said surface, a rear panel of translucent lightdiffusing material spaced from said front panel, spacer strips betweensaid front and back panels forming guideways above and below saidwindows, removable strips of transparent material slidable between saidspacers and having an opaque surface on which desired insignia may becut and a source of light behind said rear panel.

4. An illuminated sign having replaceable items of insignia, comprisinga front panel of transparent material having an'opaque surface thereonwith windows provided within said surface, a rear panel of transparentmaterial, a translucent light diffusing surface adjacent said rearpanel, said rear panel being spaced from said front panel, guidewaysbetween said front and back panels above and below said windows,insertable strips of transparent material slidable in said guideways andhaving an opaque surface on which desired insignia may be cut, and asource of light behind said rear panel.

5. An illuminated sign having replaceable items of insignia, comprisinga front panel of transparent material having an opaque surface thereonwith windows provided within said surface, a rear panel of transparentmaterial having a translucent light diffusing surface, spacers spacingsaid front and back panels and forming guideways above and below saidwindows, insertable strips of transparent material slidable in saidguideways and having an opaque surface thereon on which the desiredinsignia may be cut, and a source of light behind said rear panel.

6. An illuminated sign having replaceable items of insignia, comprisinga front panel of transparent material having an opaque surface thereonwith windows provided within said surface, a rear panel of transparentmaterial having a translucent light diffusing surface, spacers spacingsaid front and back panels and forming guideways above and below Ysaidwindows, replaceable strips of transparent material insertable from anedge of said sign and slidable in said guideways, said strips having anopaque surface thereon on which the desired insignia may be cut, and asouce of light behind said rear panel.

7. An illuminated sign having replaceable items of insignia, comprisinga front panel of transparent material having an opaque surface thereonwith windows provided in said surface, a rear panel of translucent lightdiffusing material spaced from said front panel, spacer strips betweensaid front and back panels forming guideways above and below saidwindows, removable strips of transparent material slidable between saidspacers and having an opaque surface on which desired insignia may becut, the windows in said front panel being smaller in length and widththan said removable strips, and a source of light behind said rearpanel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS862,054 Collins July 30, 1907 1,756,547 Hansen Apr. 29, 1930 1,913,585Crosby June 13, 1933 2,083,258 Fisher .Tune S, 1939

